Obama to sign EO authorizing aid money for abortions today

Ed MorrisseyPosted at 12:20 pm on January 23, 2009

Yesterday, on the anniversary of Roe v Wade, abortion supporters expected Obama to issue an executive order reversing the Mexico City policy imposed by George Bush prohibiting American aid dollars for international abortions. Obama demurred, perhaps wishing to avoid the media scrutiny that would attend such a move on Roe’s anniversary. Instead, Obama will quietly sign the new EO today, away from the media spotlight:

President Barack Obama will sign an executive order later Friday ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that promote or perform abortion, officials said.

It is a move certain to please liberals and other abortion-rights advocates, and the reversal was expected in the Democrat’s first week as president.

The so-called “Mexico City policy” has been reinstated and then reversed by Republican and Democratic presidents since Repulican President Ronald Reagan established it in 1984. President Bill Clinton then ended the ban, but President George W. Bush re-instituted it in 2001 as one of his first acts in office.

This isn’t exactly a Profile in Courage. Actions get taken on Friday afternoons when people want the media to ignore it. By noon, the broadcast networks have their evening news well planned, and Americans as a rule go out to socialize. It’s not called the graveyard of news cycles for nothing.

It seems significant that the first such Friday afternoon news cycle of the Obama administration gets used for authorizing American tax dollars for abortions abroad. We’re spending a trillion dollars that we don’t have now for an economic stimulus that will likely make the economy worse as we pull capital out of the markets. With the federal budget deficit exploding to three times its previous size, thanks to the bailout, why should Americans pay for abortions overseas?

At least the shame Obama appears to show in signing this dreadful act can give pro-life activists a little hope. Perhaps if Obama realizes that he has to bury this in a Friday-afternoon news cycle, the Freedom of Choice Act won’t get much attention later in this Congressional session.